The Broken Mother Became the Alpha’s Mate

Chapter 8 Drama Queen

Sophia’s POV

I collapsed onto the cold living room floor, my chest rising and falling hard.

Through the thick glass, Ava trembled in the late-autumn wind and kept slamming her hands against the frame.

But all I could see in my mind was Olivia’s face.

Pale.

Frozen.

Burning with fever.

Trapped on that balcony.

My stomach twisted. I bent over and dry-heaved, but no tears came.

Twenty minutes later, the front door was kicked open with savage force.

Derek stormed in, fury rolling off him. He had clearly watched enough of the live security footage on the way back.

His gaze swept over the fruit knife on the floor, then landed on me.

His golden eyes burned with rage.

But he swallowed the roar rising in his throat.

A bitter smile touched my mouth.

Of course this wasn’t love.

It was because he still thought he could use me to get Olivia.

“Sophia, have you completely lost your mind?” He yanked at his tie, every word dripping with impatience. “You trashed the house, and now you’re keeping the child from school?”

“I told you.” My voice was raw. “She’s sick.”

Derek gave a mocking snort.

“Sick?” He looked down at me like I was some hysterical lunatic. “Sophia, how long are you planning to cling to that pathetic excuse?”

I tilted my head at him. I was too tired to be angry anymore.

“Why?” I asked softly. “Why, even now, can’t you believe she’s really dying?”

“Stop playing games with me!” Derek snapped. “Everyone in the Pack knows you’re a lying drama queen.”

Then, colder—

“Why would I believe you?”

A disgusting memory hit me like a blade.

In the fourth year of our bond, he skipped Olivia’s birthday to spend time with Blair. When he came home empty-handed and saw our daughter crying, he only shoved her aside in irritation.

I had broken down and screamed at him that if he kept treating us like that, I would do something he’d regret.

So that was it.

He had taken that desperate collapse and turned it into my permanent label.

In his eyes, I was just a crazy woman fighting for attention, willing to use our daughter’s health as a weapon.

Then Derek’s nose twitched.

At last, he caught the stench drifting in from the terrace.

“Mom?!”

He rushed to the glass door and yanked it open. The second he saw Ava bound up, soaked through, and stinking, he jerked back half a step like he’d been electrocuted.

“Sophia, you vicious b***h!” He shouted as he moved to untie her, but the smell was so foul he had to cover his nose. Then he spun back toward me, eyes red with rage. “What do you want?!”

He looked at me as if I were some unforgivable monster.

As if he were being forced to throw me scraps just to settle me down.

Fine.

Let him think that.

I slowly pushed myself up off the floor and picked up the fruit knife.

“Give me the deed to this house.” I stared straight at him.

Derek paused for one second.

Then he let out a vicious, mocking laugh.

“So after all this, it’s about money.” He shot me a contemptuous look and turned toward the study.

A few seconds later, a heavy document envelope landed at my feet.

“Take it, gold-digger,” he said arrogantly. “Now that I’ve given you what you want, don’t forget to bring Olivia to the hospital.”

I didn’t answer.

I didn’t even look at him.

I snatched up the envelope and ran out of that suffocating house without a backward glance.

……

Half an hour later, I was back at the real estate office.

The room was heated, but I felt like I was standing naked in ice.

The agent’s lips were moving, but it took me a long time to understand the words.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Sophia. Derek is the sole legal owner listed on this deed. Without his signature, you have no right to sell the property.”

I gripped the paper so hard my knuckles went white.

How?

How could this be?

Back when we bought the house, we both paid for it. I remembered clearly that my name had been on it too.

Then a terrible thought flashed through my mind.

Two years ago...

My parents were attacked by Rogues at the border and left critically injured, near death. During that time, I completely fell apart. I could only sleep with sedatives. Derek played the perfect caring Alpha mate, handling all the aftermath and insurance matters for me.

He kept pushing stacks of papers in front of me and saying gently, “Just sign, Sophia. I’ll take care of everything. You just need to rest.”

That was when he had me sign the transfer papers.

At the worst moment of my life, when I was weakest and most broken, my fated mate had quietly stripped away my last road of escape.

This marriage was even more disgusting than I thought.

Pain pressed into my chest.

Not because of Derek.

Because of Olivia.

I still didn’t have the money to bring her back.

And no matter how I turned it over in my mind, the only person I could ask now was Derek.

Worse—I had almost completely blown everything up between us just now.

The thought made nausea flood me.

But a second later, I forced it down.

Olivia was the only family I had left.

I had to save her.

Even if it meant throwing away the last of my dignity, I would do it.

I had to.

My hands shook so badly I almost dropped my phone before I finally called Derek.

He answered with a mocking laugh.

“What? Hit a wall already? Bring Olivia over for the marrow extraction, and I’ll hand you the house for free. Sounds like a good deal, doesn’t it?”

I ignored the mockery.

Ignored the fury that used to rise in me the second he mentioned marrow.

Instead, I became that obedient woman again—the one from a few days ago, pleading for him to come home.

“Derek,” I said softly, almost begging, “I’ll do whatever you want, but Olivia really can’t donate marrow right now. Something happened to her. She needs a huge amount of money immediately or she’ll die. Please go sign the sale papers at the agency. Sell the house and save our daughter. Please.”

I was so careful with my tone, terrified of provoking him.

But in the next second—

“Can’t you understand plain English? I’m out of patience with you!” His voice turned instantly cold, full of disgust. “No marrow, no money. And I’m done discussing this with you.”

“Don’t hang up! Don’t hang up!” My mind snapped. I screamed into the phone, “Our child is really dying! There was an earthquake at the underwater lab—if nobody retrieves her, she’ll suffocate to death, I’m begging you—”

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The line went dead.

I called again like a madwoman.

The number had been blocked.

He had blacklisted me.

The last shred of Olivia’s hope had been crushed by her own father’s hand.

I felt like the whole world had thrown me into a black hole with no sound and no air.

In the middle of a crowded human city street, I couldn’t see.

I couldn’t breathe.

All I could feel was pain and guilt so heavy it nearly crushed me flat.

My legs finally gave out.

I curled up in a corner of the dusty sidewalk, surrounded by dead leaves, clutching my cramping stomach as I broke into hopeless, shattered sobs.